


Date Night

by unrivaled_tapestry



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Date Night, Ferdibert Valentine's Flashbang (2020), Fluff, Ice Skating, M/M, Modern AU, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-19 13:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22711204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unrivaled_tapestry/pseuds/unrivaled_tapestry
Summary: "Hubert had to work on Christmas, so Ferdinand gets to decide what they do for Valentine's Day. He picks ice skating." Modern AU. Written for the Ferdibert Valentine's Flashbang!
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 17
Kudos: 92
Collections: Ferdibert Gang Valentine Flashbang





	Date Night

**Author's Note:**

> This work was extremely fun to work on! I was glad to be able to participate in this event, and to put a little fluff out into the world =) This work was done in collaboration with the artist Tytopls on Twitter. This section will be updated as soon as their art is posted!
> 
> I would also like to thank InkSplatterM and flxmeemperors on Twitter for beta'ing this fic for me!

Ferdinand scoured the mall, looking specifically for anyone just grim enough to wear all black before Valentine’s Day. Or after, for that matter. All around him, some of the brightness of the holidays had returned, with stores having replaced New Year’s sales with red hearts and plushies as they moved out of the Q4 sales apocalypse. However, it was still February, and the world outside remained thoroughly dark and cold. The drive getting there hadn’t been perilous, but the news said to expect a cold snap in one week’s time.

Ferdinand wore his favorite red wool jacket. In one hand, he carried a scarf and hat that were no longer serving him especially well now that he was navigating around crowds of people taking advantage of sales with romance in the air. To his left, people buzzed towards a kiosk selling chocolate. Children ran to and fro at his feet towards the food court while fancy metropolitan couples strolled on the second floor.

He spied Hubert standing by the window to a jewelry store, the glittering golds and gems from the display lighting up his otherwise dour face. He may as well have been watching a car accident, for all he gazed at the fine things behind the display and sipped his black coffee.

Cautiously, Ferdinand pressed his hands behind his back and walked up behind him. Dangerous, perhaps, to do to a martial artist, but Ferdinand didn’t mind living dangerously where Hubert was involved.

Hubert didn’t turn to acknowledge him, as if he was lost in thought staring at the pretty things.

Ferdinand glanced over his shoulder, doing his best not to get Hubert’s attention. It was not an especially fancy place—more of a boutique. Handmade pendants from independent artists hung on bronze tree statuettes. Earrings with brightly colored gems were arranged on dolphin tail stands in a rainbow formation, with a little sign at the bottom advertising the #WeAreLGBTQIA hashtag, and the promise that %10 of proceeds for the month would go to help homeless youth. Next to the earrings green felt tubes sported silver bangles and rings that had been cooled around molds made from the branches of pine trees.

“If you’re planning on startling me,” Hubert droned, “I can see you in the reflection of the glass.”

“I meant to _surprise_ you, not startle. They are very different things,” Ferdinand said, not quite into Hubert’s ear, and he couldn’t keep the pout out of his voice. “Besides, what were you looking at?”

Hubert’s cheeks took on a kind of distinctive flush that Ferdinand always took immense pride in being able to bring out. Ferdinand couldn’t help it—a small smile spread across his face at seeing Hubert so flustered. “Nothing, unless you like any of these baubles.”

Ferdinand stuck out his lower lip. “Not when you say it like that. Besides, Lorenz accessorizes more than I do.” He scrunched up his nose. “Let me guess, straight black coffee from Starbucks?”

Hubert wordlessly extended a hand with a second drink in it, and Ferdinand gasped, reaching for the cup. He removed the green to-go stopper and scented the drink. “A chai tea latte?”

“With an extra pump of syrup,” Hubert replied, taking another sip from his own drink. Next to him, Ferdinand hurriedly plunged into his beverage just as Hubert managed to say, “Careful, it’s hot.”

Ferdinand spat a little bit of latte back into the cup and aired out his burned tongue. “So it is.”

Next to him, Hubert sighed. “Well, as promised, you are the director of our outing today. Whatever you like, within reason, shall be yours.” He offered a subdued smile.

Ferdinand took a sip of his now only slightly cooler beverage. “You know, you do not have to do this. I understand why you and Edelgard needed to prepare for the case.” Even if it had been on Christmas. Even if they had had plans. Even if Ferdinand had needed to explain to his mother, father and sisters why his ex-college rival, current-lawyer boyfriend couldn’t come to the family get together. Not that Ferdinand especially wanted to be there, either, but it had stung a little. He’d been looking forward to Hubert sharing his misery. And opening presents.

“Nonsense. If I don’t make it up to you,” Hubert began dryly, “I am sure to be visited by three ghosts next year.”

At that, Ferdinand quirked a smile. “As if you would do anything but staunchly litigate your defense.”

To Hubert’s credit, he didn’t deny it, and Ferdinand caught a little smirk behind his pink cup as he took another sip of coffee. “What would you like to do?”

Ferdinand stood ramrod straight in front of Hubert, his arms crossed. “I hear they have a pop-up ice arena set up at the park down the way.” He paused, for effect. “And I would like for _you_ to take me ice skating.”

Hubert’s face fell a fraction. Not disappointed, per se—in fact, if pressed, Ferdinand would have related it more to panic. “Would you…like to do anything _else_?”

“Do you not like ice skating? We do not have to.” Ferdinand tried not to let his own disappointment show through.

“I can’t say for sure whether I like it or not, seeing as how I’ve never done it,” Hubert replied.

“Wait. You have _never_ been?” Ferdinand asked.

Hubert shifted his weight uncomfortably, as if he expected a camera crew to emerge from behind the Lululemon Athletica across the way. “My childhood focus was largely on my studies. There simply wasn’t time or money for many other activities.”

Ferdinand felt a little prickle of guilt. He knew Hubert was understating, because they were in public, because it was hard to say a parent used school and his studies as a kind of never-ending punishment. Among other things. Although his own father had never been supportive, Ferdinand always had the money to do what he wanted regardless. His surprise could be hurtful, he knew. Every time Hubert accidentally stumbled across some activity or another that Ferdinand considered a right of passage or a normal part of childhood, he could see Hubert’s face get a little dourer. Not in the kind of attractive, moody-broody way of Ferdinand’s high school boyfriends, but in a way that reminded him that Hubert had been truly sad.

“If you would like,” Ferdinand mulled the words out in his mouth until a lightbulb went off in his head. “…I could teach you! It has been a long time, but it is like riding a bike.” He paused. “Did you—”

“Yes,” Hubert said, sounding a little groused as he finished his coffee. “I know how to ride a bike, Ferdinand.”

Ferdinand raised his hands in a gesture of peace. “I do not always _know_.” He spread his arms wide. “So, what do you think?”

Hubert let out a heavy sigh, though when he spoke, his words lacked any harshness. “Very well. If you want to use our time together today to go ice skating, who am I to deny you?”

Ferdinand threw his arms around Hubert in a big hug. It did turn a couple heads, and Ferdinand quickly planted his heels firmly back on the ground. “The skating rink is in a park just down the way.” At Hubert’s questioning stare, he added: “Yes, it is a pond. And yes, it is frozen solid.”

“I expect nothing less,” said Hubert. “I imagine they don’t want to get sued.”

As they started walking towards the mall exit, Hubert evaluated him carefully. With one hand, he deposited a cup into a passing trash can. While that happened, Ferdinand turned up the charm in his smile and eyes.

As they made their way out through the walkway adjacent to the parking lot, Ferdinand glanced around. Hubert didn’t like kissing in public, usually, it made him nervous. They’d grown up, ultimately, in very different environments, and limiting PDA was one more way Ferdinand tried to respect that.

But when there was no one around to see—

He grabbed at the lapels of Hubert’s coat, his fingers digging in around a button and pulling Hubert down to his mouth. Hubert responded by wrapping his hands around the base of Ferdinand’s ribs and pulling him into a deeper kiss. He loved the pressure of those hands against him, wanted to lean in until Hubert enveloped him.

The taste of coffee still clung to Hubert. Granted, he was saturated with it most of the time—Ferdinand was aware of two cases that Hubert had undoubtedly won due to the aid of his favorite white coffee drink from the little drive-through place near his office—but this was fresh coffee, and it mingled with the lingering taste of spices and corn syrup on Ferdinand’s own tongue, adding a bitter tone to the palette. Complimenting him. Red and black, warming each other’s lips even as a cold gust of wind made Ferdinand shiver against him.

When they broke away, Ferdinand smiled, and instinctively reached to warm Hubert’s fingers with his. Hubert’s cheeks flushed, and he sank into his pea coat while considering the trees at the other end of the parking lot, as if to say his face was red because of the cold, as if time didn’t stop for Ferdinand when Hubert held him. As if he didn’t feel a little immortal when they were together.

Ferdinand loved this man.

“Come,” Ferdinand said, “if we go now, we can get in some skating while most people are at dinner.”

Hubert ran a finger over his lips. “Are you sure you don’t have something else—”

“ _Hubert_.” Ferdinand did not stick out his lower lip. Yet. It seemed unfair, almost, but he would if left with no other option.

“Fine, fine,” Hubert said. “Lead on.”

Slowly, the busy downtown area converted into a park, albeit one feeling the absence of the sun. Evergreens kept the area looking lush, but the skeletal deciduous trees around them gave the park a funerary appearance, broken only by the red backyard tent covering what looked to be a shoe rental station.

A woman sat behind a register bundled under layers and layers of clothing, her nose practically disappearing under the white collar of her sweater and the faux fur lining of her snow jacket. As they approached, Ferdinand waved a hand in greeting. While he chatted with the attendant and relayed to her their shoe sizes, Hubert quietly got out his credit card to pay.

With their rental shoes in hand, they scoped out a bench near the pond. Ferdinand made quick work of his boots and tried to hide the immense joy on his face as soon as he had the skates on—even if they were rentals. It had been much too long, and he had a thousand fond memories of going to the local rink with his sisters.

When he looked over, he saw Hubert scowling.

“Is something the matter?”

Hubert looked at him, seeming for all the world like a very surprised fish. “They are rather tight.”

“They have to be,” Ferdinand explained. “Otherwise you could roll your ankle pretty badly.”

Hubert tied his laces without any further complaint, and although he still looked uncomfortable, he did not seem to be in pain. “It’s…different.”

“That it is!” Ferdinand replied, and as his skates dug into the grass, he reached out a hand to help Hubert up. After a moment’s hesitation, Hubert accepted. They walked towards the pond, Ferdinand keeping an eye on Hubert to make sure he didn’t fall before they ever reached the ice.

“All right,” Ferdinand started, trying to identify the source of the nervous energy starting to form, making his bones vibrate. What if he was setting Hubert up for something he would badly hate? “When you step onto the ice, that will be the hardest part.” He looked around. “If we were in a rink, there would be a wall for you to lean on.”

“I suppose I’ll have to make do with leaning on you,” Hubert said, so quietly that Ferdinand nearly missed it.

Ferdinand stepped onto the pond easily. The blades cut grooves into the ice that he settled into immediately, starting out by testing his weight against the inside and outside edges of his rentals. He turned around, and Hubert remained on the grass, his face set in a look of deep alarm.

Ferdinand smiled, and reached out a hand. “Come on now. The first step is the hardest.”

Hubert took his hand. “Is this the part where you tell me I won’t fall?”

“Oh no,” Ferdinand said, “you will _definitely_ fall. But it’s okay, because I’ll teach you how.”

Hubert skeptically glanced between the edge of the pond and Ferdinand’s outstretched hand. Ferdinand did his best not to laugh—he didn’t like seeing Hubert uncomfortable, but he saw some charm in the wide set to his eyes. His boyfriend was, normally, buttoned up and precise. Hubert made his way through the world—professionally and otherwise—as someone who was on top of his game and dedicated to his cause. His opponents knew him to be ruthless and quick-witted in a courtroom, and the way he dressed and acted kept other people at a distance as well, from paralegals to baristas.

That confidence was part of what drew Ferdinand to Hubert in the first place—once he got over the façade of cruelty that often came with it. 

Now, Hubert looked like he was getting ready to swim for the first time, and he relied on Ferdinand for guidance.

It was, well, cute.

He reached out and gently wrapped his fingers around Ferdinand’s hand, and the sweetness of it made Ferdinand’s heart grow a size.

As Hubert took his first tentative step onto the ice, and immediately his grip on Ferdinand’s fingers tightened as one foot started to slip and then the other. He gasped, pitching forward until Ferdinand stabilized him.

“There you go! That was the hardest part,” Ferdinand said. “Okay, no—listen. You’re going to want to keep your knees bent. Like this.” He demonstrated. “When you walk, your center of gravity is further back, but ice has a different momentum.”

“Who—” Hubert gasped out, his knees creaking into place as his ankles wobbled uncertainly on his blades, “—ever decided to do this in the first place?”

“Us, for starters,” Ferdinand said, unable to hide his grin. As Hubert’s left foot began to slide out from under him, Ferdinand leaned backwards to the right to provide some counterbalance, and Hubert slid forward with him. “See how there are two edges? You’ll want to stay on the inside edge for now. Yes! Just like that.”

Hubert nodded, still looking somewhere between focused and ill as he took little choppy steps to maintain the center of gravity Ferdinand instructed him to.

“It actually gets easier the faster you go,” Ferdinand said, lightly stroking the back of Hubert’s knuckles. He didn’t seem to notice.

“That does not seem like something that would be accurate,” Hubert ground out, although his expression relaxed.

“Let me show you!” Ferdinand said. With an inclined brow, he began to pull away from Hubert. Although Hubert’s grip squeezed again for a moment, he immediately relented. “Just stand there for a second.”

Ferdinand glided away smoothly, the ice rasping against his blades as he adjusted to the way the rental dug into the bone of his ankle. He circled Hubert a couple times, and felt a little spike of pride at the way Hubert seemed unable to look away, save for when he had to keep himself from tumbling onto the ice.

He did a couple figure eights and swiveled so he was skating backwards. His half swizzles were a little sloppy, and he almost tripped over himself when attempting his first crossover, but his year of lessons came back to him as if they’d never left. His sister Marguerite was the real skater in the family—while he’d been bitten by the horse bug, she continued taking figure skating lessons through high school. Still, he loved the feeling of freedom it gave him, the idea that he wasn’t just borrowing wings, he was using gravity and tempered steel to move further and faster.

He glanced back at Hubert just in time to watch him try to take a step and fall in a dark heap on the ice.

Gasping, Ferdinand skated over to him. “Hubert! Are you okay?”

“Everything except my pride, _my love_.” Hubert grumbled something else to himself as he drew up to his elbow, his left hand instantly slipping out from under him when he tried to stand up.

“Your insurance is good, but I do not think it will cover that, _darling_.” Ferdinand watched Hubert for just a second, trying to discern if he wanted to be helped to his feet, before kneeling to offer his hands again. “What you’re going to want to do is put your knee up first and push off from there.” Ferdinand frowned. “I am sorry. I should have taught you how to fall first.”

Hubert successfully pushed to his feet and started to brush the ice shavings from his jacket and pants. His normal black outfit was caked in snow, and it certainly had the effect of undercutting his usual, low-key threatening demeanor. “My own fault.”

Ferdinand offered his hand again, and Hubert took it, although he struggled to meet Ferdinand’s eyes.

“Together this time.”

“I feel as though I am slowing you down.”

“Nonsense,” Ferdinand said. “Part of the fun is getting to do this with you. Come along now. You have to propel yourself from the back, like this.” Ferdinand slide his skate behind him at an angle, and he waited until Hubert followed suit before pushing backwards, his other hand planted firmly on the small of Hubert’s back. If Hubert was blushing from the cold or the contact, Ferdinand had no way of knowing, but he found the expression more than charming.

They moved forward as a unit—Ferdinand’s glides smooth and Hubert’s a little smaller and shakier at his side. As they continued, Hubert’s steps became more and more confident, until Ferdinand even caught the ghost of a smile forming at his lips while the edge of the pond slid past them.

Together, they circled it a few times before, finally, a line started to form at the rental station, and Ferdinand began to slow his pace. When he did, Hubert stopped a second later, and did a little twirl into Ferdinand that almost took them both out at once.

When they came to a stop, Ferdinand didn’t break contact right away. He stood there, enjoying the feeling of Hubert panting against him as his own lungs caught up. It had been a long time since he’d done this kind of exercise, and the cold air was punishing him for it.

“Do you,” Ferdinand said, glancing away as he spoke, “think you would want to do this again? Was it fun for you?”

Hubert cupped his hand around Ferdinand’s elbow—Ferdinand wasn’t sure if it was for comfort, to keep himself from falling, or both. With his free hand, he tilted up Ferdinand’s chin. “Perhaps not on my own, _yet_ , but I would be…amenable to more. So long as I have a good teacher.”

In a motion that was so smooth it mimicked falling, he kissed Ferdinand again, and Ferdinand held him tightly in return.


End file.
